World Trade Center Parachuters Appear in Manhattan Court

Four men charged with parachuting from the top of One World Trade Center pleaded not guilty in a Manhattan court on Tuesday.

The hearing took place hours after the group posted new eight-minute footage of their Sept. 30 jump on the Internet, the third such video.

One of the men in the video announced that Marco Markovich, one of the defendants in the case, would be the first to jump.

At one point in the video, one of the men says he hopes the group doesn’t end up in a police precinct.

The men turned themselves in to police in late March following a 5½-month joint investigation by the New York Police Department and Port Authority Police Department.

The defendants—Mr. Markovich, 27 years old, Andrew Rossig, 33, Kyle Hartwell, 29, and James Brady, 32—have been charged with burglary, reckless endangerment and jumping from a structure. They each remain free on $3,500 bail.

The four men have admitted their involvement in the jump, but don’t believe their actions rise to the level of a felony, from the burglary charge. Attorneys for the men filed a motion in court to have that charge dismissed.

“We have moved to dismiss the top count, which is the only felony count,” said Joseph Corozzo, Mr. Markovich’s attorney. “The clients are innocent of burglary. The burglary statute requires that a crime be committed in the premises in the building.”

“This is something that is more appropriately charged under the base jumping statute, which is a misdemeanor,” he said.

Officials on both sides said they have been discussing the case. An agreement could be announced June 24 at the next court hearing for the four men.

The felony charge could be withdrawn by prosecutors or dismissed by the judge, Mr. Corozzo said. “Once that is gone and we are dealing with misdemeanors then it will easier for us to resolve this matter,” Mr. Corozzo said.

Andrew Rossig, Marco Markovich, James Brady and Kyle Hartwell in Manhattan court on Tuesday on charges for base jumping off 1 World Trade Center.